Last week was my universities reading week so I had no lectures, therefore my M7 with vista business didn't get much usage as a tablet. When trying to write something in my first lecture today I noticed that the input panel was missing from the left hand side where it usually pops out.

To get to the point:
The input panel is missing from the side.
Turning on the toolbar input panel and clicking the button does nothing.
The little button no longer appears near text fields.

It always used to work perfectly but sometime last week it went wrong. Restarting has no effect, system restore didn't work, removing the 'tablet PC optional components' from the 'turn windows features on and off' setting has not worked.

A few interesting things to note:
In the 'view basic information about your computer' screen I can no longer see the bit that says tablet functionality available or something like that.
In the tablet pc settings program in the control panel. It says in the handwriting tab that 'automatic learning is only available on a tablet pc'

Can you go to Start -> Run -> Type in: services.msc and see if the "Tablet PC Input Service" has stopped running? If it states it is "Started" or "Running"; I'd recommend you double click it, then click the "Restart" button when the dialog pops up. Also make sure that the drop down menu has "Automatic" selected.

Also, the other two services that are required for the Tablet Input Panel (TIP) to function correctly are: SL UI Notification Service and Software Licensing. See if they are set to Manual & Started, and Automatic & Started, respectively.

It is indeed odd that Vista somehow disabled the Tablet PC Input Service, perhaps something happened along the way when a patch was applied or something from Windows Vista. Nevertheless, if your TIP does suddenly disappear again, you now know the way to re-enable it.

First Submission!
TIP NOT WORK, EVEN AFTER SERVICES CORRECTED. JOURNAL GONE.
My TIP will not revive
1) even after updating the harmful changes Vista made in Services
2) even now that Task window reports TIP status as "running'.
So, there are further difficulties, kind people, to be solved in my case.

3. Moreover, my Windows Journal is nowhere to be found -- even after a search.
Yet my electronic pen works in OneNote.
4. Need I do some downloading? And re-installing? Of WJ? Did vicious Vista KO that too? Where is the download? This softw is free?

5. BUT I want the TIP back most, which is useable in conjunction with even Word & other apps, yes?
6. Others -- even an India co -- are coming out with Tablets, even in NetBook form, if my google updates on Android are correct; but MS seems so far ahead in HWR multitude of features, it must show its advantages, not blow its lead by its typical "bugs after bugs" software.
And maybe MS should fuse its advanced HWR into its cell phones, all its apps, with Voice Recog, etc.
Many thanks, kind people,
Joe

thank you very very much it works at last but, it doesn't expect the words I write, I can't live without word expectation artificial Intelligence and correcting spelling service in Tablet PC input panel, and I hope there'll be word expectation and correcting for other languages not only English